Big Mo's Blog

Rick Rubin Helps Power Adele?s ?21? To Diamond Status; First Artist In Dec

by Big Mo,posted Nov 30 2012 12:35AM

Super-producer Rick Rubin is sharing in on the success of Adele, who was recently named the first artist of the 21st century to receive a Diamond Award in less than two years.

Adele’s critically acclaimed album 21 was officially certified as having sold 10 million records, landing a Diamond Award certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

“We are thrilled to honor Adele with an RIAA Diamond Award marking her enormous 21 sales success,” said RIAA chairman/CEO Cary Sherman. “Selling more than 10 million albums in the United States, in less than two years, is an achievement unparalleled by any other artist in the past decade, let alone just a few in all of history. Adele’s unique talent is a gift to music fans, and her success is certainly cause for a celebration of Diamond magnitude.”

In the digital realm, eight of Adele’s songs have already amassed over 19 million downloads in the United States.

Rick Rubin, who is co-chairman of Columbia Records produced five of the songs on Adele’s hit album 21.

“She’s the real thing, and at a time when so much music is made through a more manufactured process, she is a self-contained, real artist who writes her songs and sings her songs and uses her vocal instrument in way we don’t get to hear a lot,”Rick Rubin told Billboard in June of 2011.

According to data released by the RIAA, Adele is the only British or European female solo act in history to earn an RIAA Diamond award.